Reading is Inevitable

Happy Friday everyone! How was your September? Good, I hope? What about your October? Can you believe we're already in October, and that we're even approaching our first complete week of it...? It's now the sixth of October and the first Friday of the month, which means it's time for yet another monthly reflection, in which I pretty much just ramble on about what happened this month as well as what's to come. Oooo... be excited. (It's okay you do whatever you want to do!) Looking Back Into September The Blog Blargh. Blargh blargh blargh. So, the blog. It didn't do horribly, but things could have been better. (At least it was better than the bookstagram, but I'll get to that in a bit, heh heh...) I had to switch over to my school posting schedule, even though I would have liked to try to keep up two posts a week for at least one more month. But, alas, school is just too much. I mean, I couldn't even handle posting once a week. That's r

Title:  Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Author:  Benjamin Alire Sáenz Genre: Realistic Fiction, YA Fiction Rating:  5 out of 5 stars ★★★★★ Reviewer:  Julia Dante can swim. Ari can't. Dante is articulate and self-assured. Ari has a hard time with words and suffers from self-doubt. Dante gets lost in poetry and art. Ari gets lost in thoughts of his older brother who is in prison. Dante is fair skinned. Ari's features are much darker. It seems that a boy like Dante, with his open and unique perspective on life, would be the last person to break down the walls that Ari has built around himself.  But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other — and the power of their friendship — can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.

I realized that, over a year ago, I wrote a post called "Quotes: Audacity" , and that this post did really well (it's actually Reading is Inevitable's most read post!), and yet I never wrote another post of quotes from a book. I liked writing that post, too. I like sharing quotes I like from books. That's why I started doing it on our bookstagram page . So why did I never write another one of these "quote blog posts"? I don't know. But I intend to write at least another one. And that's why I'm here today. Well, there's that, and then there's also the amazing book that is The Nightingale.  If you've read some of my recent blog posts or have poked around a bit, you would know that exactly a month ago I published my book review on The Nightingale , in which I explained my love for it and why you should read it yourself. And while I actually have another post in the works on that book because it definitely deserves more than on

If you've poked around bookstagram a bit, you might have noticed terms or acronyms that are commonly used, and yet you have no idea what they mean. Don't you worry. I think everyone was a bit lost in the beginning. But, luckily for you, I'm here to explain what some of these foreign "words" mean. Shall we begin? Okay. So first up is the word "bookstagram" itself. I think this one's pretty easy to dissect. You see the word "book", and then the ending of "stagram." (Wow, that makes a whole lot of sense! Just, wait a second, please.) The word is a combination of "book(s)" and "Instagram", creating the mish-mashed version of "bookstagram." For anyone confused (although I don't think it's too complicated), just think of it like a ship name. For instance, "Percabeth" is a combination of Percy and Annabeth's names. "Caleo" is a combination of Calypso and Leo's nam

Back in early July, I published a post titled  "Summer 2017 Challenge - Reading Popular YA Books" , in which I explained that, this summer, I wanted to challenge myself to read some books I don't typically read. Actually, these books are what a lot of bookstagrammers read — the more popular young adult fiction books that tend to be of the fantasy genre. These books include well-known series such as Harry Potter , The Hunger Games , and The Mortal Instruments series, as well as stand-alone titles such as Thirteen Reasons Why  (a controversial one, however, due to the Netflix series adaptation) and Anna and the French Kiss . And it's not that I hate all young adult books. I just tend to not read ones more centered around fantasy and romance. But I wanted to read some of these books and give them another shot. Because every book is different, right? And I know that everyone has their own preferences, and that's perfectly okay! Like I said in my last post, "

I love books. I mean, you have to know that, right? After all, I have a whole blog dedicated to books. There's also a good chance you came from the bookstagram account I co-run with my sister, so you would also know how much I talk about books over there. (It is a book stagram.) And there definitely isn't anything wrong with liking books. My mom actually said recently that she's glad I'd rather buy books than some other stuff kids my age want, whatever that may be. Except there's a problem with liking books too much: You end up buying a lot of them. Sure, I don't have as many books as others do. I've seen people dedicate three or four shelves just for their TBR books. But I still have over 20, a number that makes Em, someone who practically finishes a book days after buying it, shudder and shake her head. And now I've begun to shake my head, too. Yes, having a lot of books gives me options when it's time to pick a new one to read. Even